Charlotte almost got $20M for roads. Then NC lawmakers cut millions.
Millions of dollars for road improvements were set to come to Charlotte by way of the state budget that Gov. Roy Cooper signed on Nov. 18 — until, rather suddenly, they weren’t.
While initial versions of the budget allocated $20.5 million for Charlotte road improvements from the state, an amendment added later in the budget cycle cut that to about $13.7 million. Local officials aren’t sure why that happened, and City Council members were taken aback.
The cut isn’t unprecedented. In fiscal year 2020, the city was given $20.5 million, an amount of funding based primarily on the city’s population which comes from the gas sales tax and other highway fees.
But in June 2020, state legislators capped the amount for cities above 400,000 residents to two-thirds of what they would normally receive. For Charlotte, that amounted to a loss of about $6.8 million.
Early this budget cycle, it looked like the state would go back to giving larger cities their full dollar amounts.
Both the House and Senate versions of the budget would have restored Charlotte’s funding. The version that came to Cooper’s desk, however, included the two-thirds clause for large cities.
Cory Burkarth, a city spokesman, said in an email city officials were surprised by the cut and that they were given no warning.
Dana Fenton, the city’s intergovernmental relations manager, told City Council members last week that he’d look into why the cut was reinstated for the new budget. He added that the total amount of money in the program — called the Powell Bill program — had increased, even as Charlotte’s lot was reduced.
Additionally, he said that because the city was not alerted to the reduction until Nov. 16 — two days before Cooper signed the budget — they had no time to lobby against it. Much of the state’s budget negotiations happen behind closed doors.
“There isn’t a good reason to punish our state’s largest cities with a provision that was designed to offset costs,” state Sen. Mujtaba A. Mohammed said in a statement. “The new formula pits urban counties against rural counties and is counterproductive to the needs of both growing and emerging economies.”
The allocation of state dollars to municipalities to help fund projects on local roads, like resurfacing, road widening and street repairs, began in 1951.
Charlotte lawmakers react to road funding loss
Several City Council members criticized the reduction during last week’s meeting, saying Charlotte and other large cities are unfairly targeted.
“Unbelievable,” Mayor Pro Tem Julie Eiselt said.
Councilman Tariq Bokhari said the city should treat the reduction as a teaching moment to have a more collaborative relationship with legislators. He said that if Charlotte too often looks for “opportunities to thumb our nose at Raleigh and the general assembly,” then there will be fewer legislators willing to stand up for the city during negotiations.
“It’s a very important lesson that too often we forget,” he said. “If we treat them like some far off problem ... we will continually find ourselves in these situations where it’s we who end up suffering.”
Councilman Malcom Graham — a former state senator — was less generous to the legislature, saying urban communities pump money into state coffers but reap fewer returns for their investments.
“It’s not about having this collaborative relationship,” he said. “I can tell you what happened, I’ve been serving for 10 years — somebody pulled it.”
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